Newcastle Falcons’ fringe players will get a chance to show what they can do in Saturday’s Anglo Welsh Cup tie at home to Bath, but full-back Mike Delany says they will have to learn the little things to become Premiership regulars.

The All Black is expected to be the old head in a youthful XV for Newcastle’s final cup game of 2016-17.

If any of his team-mates come asking how they can make the step-up he once did, the devil will be in the detail.

“We talk a lot about accuracy and game management,” says the 34-year-old who wore the Silver Fern in 2009. “You learn over time what works and what doesn’t, things like being under certain pressures and knowing how to adapt your game.

“Those finer details within a game are often missed by people watching, but they’re crucial. There is a lot that goes into preparing a gameplan and executing it on the day, and that’s what the younger players will learn from games like these.

Mike Delaney of Newcastle (Image: 2015 Getty Images)

“It’s also nice having a few of the older heads mixed in there with them, helping them and going through scenarios.

“What I’ve found in the Premiership is that the margins are incredibly small between winning and losing. You can be playing really well one second, concede and turnover and ship a try as a result.

“That mistake might be missing touch, not making a tackle because you’re in the wrong position or whatever, and you get stung for those little errors at this level. You have to be on it all the time, and know you can’t switch off.”

Delany is expected to feature so he can get minutes under his belt ahead of next week’s Premiership trip to Sale. He has not played since picking up an injury in the run-up to Christmas.

Read More

“I suppose you get a little bit more freedom and less pressure than a Premiership game, but all the boys are keen to put their hands up and it’s taken just as seriously by the players and coaches,” he said of the Anglo Welsh Cup. “It’s also a good chance for a hit-out for the boys who haven’t played in a little while.”

Even after taking the points from last week’s abandoned game in the mudbath at Newport, Newcastle know there is nothing they can do at Kingston Park which will put them into the semi-finals.

But Delany is anxious to preserve Kingston Park’s reputation as a ground opponents do not want to visit.

Bath will not have to worry about the things Newcastle did in Wales, a synthetic playing surface guaranteeing a pitch will be perfect for playing rugby.

But the last thing Delany wants opposition players to do is enjoy visiting the North East.

Only once this season have the Falcons lost by a double-figure margin on their own pitch.

Read More

“From what I heard before I joined the club, before the new pitch was put down, the word was that nobody wanted to come and play here as an opposition side,” says Delany. “It wasn’t the nicest in terms of the track, the weather and what-not, and even though teams might now get excited about our pitch we have to make sure we don’t give them anything.

“We’re starting to do that, it’s getting much harder to come and play against us and we’ve got to stay true to that.

“The crowd has been great with us this season, and we have to make sure that whenever teams enjoy a little patch in a game we get up and smack them back.

“The boys absolutely love playing up here, we talk about being proud of this place and we have to keep backing up that pride by putting in good performances.”